I agree with Peter Frank. Sometimes I wish I had some straps laying around that I could throw on my board and boost while I'm out in the water. I'm on Hatteras Island so I get out in the waves when I find a buddy to kite with but most of the time I'm in the sound sometimes in light wind cruising along flattish water and other times in high wind hacking at 2-3+ feet of chop.

I learned to ride strapless on a big 7'10" foam surfboard my first year of kiting. It was huge but I suppose it helped me out to have that volume. I've been on the RRD Maquina 5'6", Cabrinha Skillit 5'6" and S-quad 5'7", and have a Firewire Hellfire 5'6".

I liked the S-quad a lot but I wouldn't say I could manage it well in light winds. I'm 63 kgs. The Maquina was a great ride, felt heavy but have only ridden it in the sound on lightish days. Same with the skillit, felt slow whenever I wan't to slash some chop. The S-quad was fast and maneuverable in moderate to high winds. It felt light and responsive compared to the skillit and I was more inclined to jump with it than I was with the skillit.

The Cab are close to a grand though so I searched around and found a deal on Firewire. Many of their boards have the 5 fin box setup which I've been liking a lot. With light winds, I set it up as a quad and have a great time working on tacks. In high winds I usually will swap to a thruster setup especially for the waves. Many of their boards can be bought with inserts so you could add straps later if you wanted or you could buy them without inserts to cut down on their weight. The Hellfire is double concave on the bottom and feels really agile even through chop. It is somewhat heavy but feels indestructible. Downside, no pads or straps on the board or supplied at all. I liked having pads under both feet. The DV8 from Litewave might also make a decent choice. Not sure of it's performance in higher winds but it has a flatter rocker and upwinds well in light wind, plus the whole deck is recessed and padded so you can grip it anywhere during tacks. I occasionally hit a spot where wax isn't holding and I slip and fall.

In Colorado a naish fish surfboard has been a game changer for me. I can't compare it to other surfboards but the floatation and improved upwind over a TT is huge. All kinds of holey junk that was previously un-kitable is now game. Better high end control through the chop too due to the bigger fin purchase. I started learn in with the front strap only but now ride both straps to boost and really hold down the rail through the gusts. Instead of taking 2 TT s now it's just the one surfboard. I'm also 200# and have landed many big airs with the naish fish still ticking...Two more weeks then snow season ought to be over (sadly)

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